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Posts Tagged ‘vray’

The following is part of our in-depth guide to the regular V-Ray Blend Material. It will cover the theory behind many of the features of this material, and will also provide specific examples of settings, as well as tricks to use. While the images used are from 3ds Max, the same concepts and settings can be used for V-Ray for Maya. The information covered here will be generally useful for V-Ray for C4D, but the blend material acts quite differently in C4D.

When should I use Blend over other types of materials?

1. When there are layered materials, where the base and coat can be seen clearly as different materials.

In the example below, you can see that the wood has a completely different reflection/highlight pattern than the glossy lacquer layer on top.

2. When an object has radically different surface properties in large areas.

In this example photo, it’s easier to create two different shaders for galvanized metal and rust and blend them together, instead of trying to do it all in one material.

3. When the object needs a specific shading effect that is not possible with a simple material.

A good example would be worn and/or slightly dirty metal that has glossy and blurred reflections at the same time.

4. When the shader needs to be easily and quickly modified.

Let’s say you have a rusty, painted metal material with three different types of surfaces: metal, paint, and rust. Theoretically, it would be possible to build elaborate mix maps and custom-painted textures to create all these effects in a single material… but imagine if you need to change the rust pattern. “Oh, yeah, the material looks great, just make it a bit less rusty!” What a nightmare! You would have to go through all the maps and adjust them, one by one, to make this “small” change.

Now imagine that you have 3-layered blend instead (Metal, Paint and Rust layers). Everything is controlled by two simple b&w masks that can be adjusted quickly and easily. This saves a lot of time and is far less frustrating.

Next week: we give you some examples and common issues with the V-Ray Blend Material.

The following is an in-depth guide to the regular V-Ray Blend Material. It will cover the theory behind many of the features of this material, and will also provide specific examples of settings, as well as tricks to use. While the images used are from 3ds Max, the same concepts and settings can be used for V-Ray for Maya. The information covered here will be generally useful for V-Ray for C4D, but the blend material acts quite differently in C4D.

Introduction

The V-Ray Blend Material could be best described as a utility material. It does not have any shading options, so it combines multiple other shaders in different ways.

The following is an in-depth guide to the regular V-Ray Blend Material. In this series, we will cover the theory behind many of the features of the material. We’ll also show specific examples of settings and give you some tricks to use. While the images used are from 3ds Max, the same concepts and settings can be used for V-Ray for Maya. Currently, the SSS materials in V-Ray for C4D behave differently, so this tutorial will not be as valuable for C4D users.

This week, we’re concluding this series of TurboTips with information on the Specular Layer; a few more settings for the FastSSS2 Material; and a sample workflow to help you put it all together.

The following is an in-depth guide to the regular V-Ray Blend Material. In this series, we will cover the theory behind many of the features of the material. We’ll also show specific examples of settings and give you some tricks to use. While the images used are from 3ds Max, the same concepts and settings can be used for V-Ray for Maya. Currently, the SSS materials in V-Ray for C4D behave differently, so this tutorial will not be as valuable for C4D users.

Diffuse and SSS Layers

This is the most important (and, generally, the most confusing) part of the FastSSS2 material. The problem is, there are many different colors to set up and they all seem to affect one another in some way, so it can be a bit difficult to work non-destructively.

In this tutorial, we’ll attempt to de-mystify these settings so they’re a bit easier to work with.

The following is an in-depth guide to the regular V-Ray Blend Material. In this series, we will cover the theory behind many of the features of the material. We’ll also show specific examples of settings and give you some tricks to use. While the images used are from 3ds Max, the same concepts and settings can be used for V-Ray for Maya. Currently, the SSS materials in V-Ray for C4D behave differently, so this tutorial will not be as valuable for C4D users.

The V-Ray FastSSS2 Material is designed for creating translucent materials (ones that scatter the light inside the object). Some common examples are: skin, marble, wax, milk, etc.

Compared to the “translucency” option in the regular V-Ray Material, it has a far better sub-surface scattering model (SSS). It is faster and much more advanced. For this reason, it’s preferable to use the FastSSS2 Material whenever you need to make a translucent shader.